Featured News, Siskiyou, South County, Yreka

Semi Truck Accident on Route 97

Route 97 is one of the longest north-south highways in North America. Starting in Weed, California it extends through Oregon and Washington before crossing the Canadian border becoming the Alaska Highway. It’s described as Oregon’s most important highway east of the Cascades and serves as an alternate trucking route to the I-5 corridor.  On February 11th between 4:30am and 5:00am there is speculation that a big rig truck was speeding down Route 97 going through the town of Weed, California.  The semi was believed to have crashed on its side due to the speed at which it was moving taking down power lines and putting 900 residents and businesses out of power.  The 18 wheeler seemed to have been carrying Fuji Apples.  Twelve hours later the semi was still on its side, with power lines still down and Route 97 still closed. I questioned why it was taking so long to remove the semi and open up the highway.  I was answered by an undisclosed employee of an undisclosed company that it takes Pacific Power a long time to coordinate distasters, with an extensive chain in command and home office in Portland Oregon.  “People think it’s a flip of a switch. But, its not.”  Taking a photo of the remaining cargo, I put a few apples in my purse before talking with Officer Wilm.  Wilm reiterated that  the semi was still on its side because powerlines were needing to be removed and they were waiting on resources.   At 11:00pm I was told by an employee of one of the three gas stations that the semi had been removed 45 minutes earlier.  When I asked why the road was still closed the employee responded, “They still need to clean up the apples.”

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